The Daily Telegraph
Tim Vollmer
August 28, 2010

A YOUNG man was held captive for six months, forced to work as a slave and repeatedly bashed at the hands of the couple he lodged with, a court heard yesterday.

The 26-year-old, who was last night in a serious condition in Westmead Hospital, is dehydrated and emaciated, suffering spinal fractures, a punctured lung, several fractured ribs and a fractured jaw.

Due to a lack of food, his current weight is just 40kg, according to prosecutors. read more..

(Reuters) – A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said on Thursday.

Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment.  read more..

The Sydney Morning Herald
August 21, 2010

The trade in human misery continues, with young girls selling for about $200, writes Ed Pilkington.

Nicholas Kristof is not the kind of person you would expect to be a slave owner. As a columnist on The New York Times, he belongs to an elite within an elite, the embodiment of journalistic seriousness. Yet there he was, in 2004, blithely forking out $150 for Srey Neth and $203 for another teenager, Srey Momm; handing over the money to a brothel keeper in exchange for a receipt and complete dispensation to do with the two girls as he would. Nick Kristof: double Pulitzer prize winner, bestselling author, slave owner. But that, as is made clear in his new book, written with his wife Sheryl WuDunn, is just the start of it. read more..